Where to move to Cali with beautiful nature and weather? (San Diego: Home Depot, live in)

[pacific2]

Originally Posted by Retired Lawyer

You won’t regret it! Also if I may add, Redlands and it’s neighboring city to the west (Loma Linda) have the longest living on average population in the entire United States, top 11 in the world, because of the world class Loma Linda Medical School + hospital.

I doubt that Loma Linda Medical School has a thing to do with Loma Linda's above average life expectancy. On the other hand, consumption of a plant-based diet, with minimal or no meat intake, probably does factor in quite heavily:

Eight common denominators to live longer
By Briana Pastorino - March 3, 2017
https://news.llu.edu/research/eight-...rs-live-longer

Living to 100 in Loma Linda, where a healthy diet comes from the Bible
by Linda Carroll and Jake Whitman / Apr.09.2015 / 3:29 PM ET / Source: TODAY
https://www.today.com/health/living-...ed-diet-t13931

BTW, the first article was actually published by Loma Linda University Health, but even they are not silly enough to try to take credit for City residents' long life expectancy.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by TacoSoup

No I think you have super powers. I obviously could stay out longer as a teenager than now at 42, but you can’t fool your body’s chemistry. Only in a El Niño year can you possibly trunk it for 4-5 months, even then you’re limited to how long you can stay out and perform spring and fall. I guess if you’re on a longboard where the water isn’t even coming to your waist is one thing, but on a shortboard where your core is submerged no way. Every person I’ve seen suited up inappropriately are never out there too long, never more than an hour, usually much less

I guess it depends which part of the year you're talking about. In the summer even as a kid I just went to the beach with trunks all day and spent hours in the ocean bodysurfing, bodyboarding and surfing. Then on the edges of summer like the warmer parts of spring and fall 'shorting it' was always refreshing but more in a 'brisk' keep it movin' sort of way. I always shortboarded except for rare occasion when flat and the longboard came out.

As a lap swimmer for many years I hated it when the lifeguards warmed the pool up too high. Typically it was for the water aerobics classes when the older ladies would complain until they cranked the temp up to unbearable levels. Then us lap swimmers would die!

ETA: Yes, age also plays a factor, I think. Let's face it. When you're younger you are typically more active, in better aerobic shape with more muscle mass and in the water more often. I was literally in the ocean daily unless conditions were terrible - lived a block away.

Derek

[saibot]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

As a lap swimmer for many years I hated it when the lifeguards warmed the pool up too high. Typically it was for the water aerobics classes when the older ladies would complain until they cranked the temp up to unbearable levels. Then us lap swimmers would die!

Derek

I agree with you there! I used to try to swim laps at the YMCA, but it was an indoor pool and they always kept the temperature way too high, for the benefit of the old folks. When you jump into the pool and get red-faced and sweaty before you even start swimming, it's a bad sign.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by pacific2

I doubt that Loma Linda Medical School has a thing to do with Loma Linda's above average life expectancy. On the other hand, consumption of a plant-based diet, with minimal or no meat intake, probably does factor in quite heavily:

Eight common denominators to live longer
By Briana Pastorino - March 3, 2017
https://news.llu.edu/research/eight-...rs-live-longer

Living to 100 in Loma Linda, where a healthy diet comes from the Bible
by Linda Carroll and Jake Whitman / Apr.09.2015 / 3:29 PM ET / Source: TODAY
https://www.today.com/health/living-...ed-diet-t13931

BTW, the first article was actually published by Loma Linda University Health, but even they are not silly enough to try to take credit for City residents' long life expectancy.

Agree with you 100% as a Loma Linda Alumni. These guys/gals are extremely health conscious and very active. Although I'm not Seventh Day Adventist nor vegetarian you literally could not buy meat on campus. And Loma Linda is a college town which means many of restaurants have vegetarian cuisine as well. So you do learn to enjoy those things while attending and can see some of the benefits.

Personally, after going to school there I could not wait to get out and back to the coast. The smog is terrible in that part of the state and summer heat is stiffing. All that onshore flow blows the LA smog into that basin and then it becomes trapped by the nearby mountains. Yuck!! So I do not believe there is anything uniquely healthy about the location itself (quite the opposite) except for the locals' eating and exercise habits.

Granted, I did have friends that actually liked the area and decided to stay after graduation. So to each their own. But the vast majority looked forward to moving somewhere else closer to the coast.

Derek

[SportyandMisty]

Originally Posted by lilcourtski

Malibu and Santa Barbara seem nice but are expensive.

No, they are not. They are very affordable. For example:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/23287-P...,-CA-90265_rb/

and

https://www.zillow.com/homes/3732-Mo...,-CA-93105_rb/

[MrJester]

Originally Posted by lilcourtski

I am moving from Missouri to California within the next year... I've struggled with finding the perfect city for a while now.

I want to be surrounded by the beautiful hills and very close to the ocean. Warm water would be cool too. I want to spend every day outside in nature and sunshine/warm weather. Where is this paradise in Cali?

Malibu and Santa Barbara seem nice but are expensive. I'm 21, and will be moving with my boyfriend and large dog. LA is great and I love the variety of vegan restaurants, but I would much rather avoid the city life and traffic that comes with it. I wouldn't mind being close to LA though.

So where is the Hawaii of Cali?

The most scenic area of California, in my opinion, would be South Orange County: Newport Beach, all the way to San Clemente. Rolling hills that are very green during the winter, overlooking craggy ocean cliffs. And only half an hour to even more hills and the mile-high Santa Ana mountains, that are sometimes snow-capped in the winter.

But of course, coastal SoCal is extraordinarily expensive, anywhere you go. Thousand Oaks, Malibu, Santa Monica, Redondo Beach, Huntington, Newport, Laguna, Del Mar, La Jolla--there's no escaping the exorbitant real estate.

Looking for warm water? Even if you go as far south as San Diego, August water temps reach no more than 72-73 degrees, and average 68 degrees. If you're thinking about 85 degrees Gulf of Mexico waters and sugar-fine sands on Florida Beaches, then no, you won't get it in California. Not to mention that coastal Southern California averages 75 degrees during the day even during the summer, so it can be quite chilly, especially during June gloom. The beaches are clean, though maybe not as pristine as Florida panhandle beaches. The sand is more coarse, too.

There are, however, many good hiking spots in South Orange County, due to the hills. All the new communities are ultra-expensive and designed with a Tuscan/Spanish/Mediterranean theme, which makes it feel you're actually in Italy because we have a similar climate, terrain, and vegetation.

Several caveats of California weather:

1. It's a very dry heat. There's NEVER any rain in the summer. Sounds good, but when there's a heat wave (yes, they happen in inland SoCal--see below) thinking that rain will come and cool you off is an absolute pipe dream. No rain in the summer=very dry, dead, brown hills in the summer, not to mention elevated fire risk once the Santa Ana Winds (see below) start blowing.
2. While it might be 75 degrees by the beach, fifty miles inland it could be 95-100 degrees.
3. The inland parts of SoCal get heat waves that can bring temps as high as 110F.
4. Even a 100 degree day in SoCal can cool off to 60 degrees at night. That's too chilly for enjoying a summer night's walk, concert, or fireworks without a jacket/blanket.
5. Winters are much warmer than Missouri but can be very rainy, with heavy downpours, during El Nino years, or actually very sunny and warm, during La Nina years. If it's raining, it's cold rain. Get a pair of rainboots because you can't slosh around the rain in flip-flops like you did back home.
6. During the Autumn and Winter, sometimes there's these very hot, dry, strong winds called Santa Anas. They gust up to 80 mph, and stoke massive wilidfires, blowing all the smoke around. Some years hardly have any; some years they're much more frequent. But these winds can occur anytime from September to April.
7. May and June are plagued by persistent fog in coastal SoCal, called "May Gray" or "June gloom." But once you hit July, it's endless days of sunshine (sounds nice, but if you're in inland SoCal, that means brutally hot days without a cloud in the sky).

[MrJester]

Originally Posted by TBCasino

15 min to Big Bear from Redlands? You must mean by helicopter because you aren't making it to Big Bear from Redlands by car in 15 min.

Exactly. And, if you want to get to OC beaches from Redlands in an hour, you had better leave at 5 am and drive at 90 miles per hour on the 91 freeway.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by lilcourtski

I am moving from Missouri to California within the next year... I've struggled with finding the perfect city for a while now.

I want to be surrounded by the beautiful hills and very close to the ocean. Warm water would be cool too. I want to spend every day outside in nature and sunshine/warm weather. Where is this paradise in Cali?

Malibu and Santa Barbara seem nice but are expensive. I'm 21, and will be moving with my boyfriend and large dog. LA is great and I love the variety of vegan restaurants, but I would much rather avoid the city life and traffic that comes with it. I wouldn't mind being close to LA though.

So where is the Hawaii of Cali?

Oh my, another California dreamer post! You say you can afford $3,000 a month, that is about the min you can expect to pay and it is doubtful it will be 3 bedrooms, especially when you are talking a house not an apartment. Not to mention most of the places some have suggested are not going to give you the water view and/or the mountain view. Redlands would offer a nice mountain view but it isn't anything like what you are thinking you want. I would take a trip to Ca, spend a week just looking around and do research on the cost of living Then see if what you think you want is workable and if California is really for you.
Just one more thing and I know I am painting a picture you really do not want to hear: finding a place that will take large dogs is going to be a challenge as well. You will need a large deposit and the management will want to see detailed tax returns or pay stubs to show you can handle the rent.

[TacoSoup]

Originally Posted by MrJester

Exactly. And, if you want to get to OC beaches from Redlands in an hour, you had better leave at 5 am and drive at 90 miles per hour on the 91 freeway.

Not entirely true. I can make it from my cabin in Running Springs to Newport Beach in 1.5 hours anytime after the morning rush until early afternoon M-F, on the weekends leaving before 9-10am will be about the same. It usually takes about 20-25 minutes to get down the hill and Redlands is right there. I don’t make it that often as I live in San Diego, but I do keep a couple of surfboards up there for when the moment strikes but my wife isn’t ready to go home yet. Going back can be a different story though M-F, weekends no problem.

[bobspez]

San Diego.